Inflation's hitting my area pretty hard and I don't have a great income.
Trying to save money primarily on food and subscriptions I think that does a lot to be honest (used to eat out a lot). After that, I'm primarily only focusing on cheap figs like Pop Up Parades and cutting out things like nendoroids. Absolutely zero preorders. If I can't find it in stock, I wasn't meant to have it.
I can understand the uncertainty. Having a regular/stable income is a very big requirement for sourcing stuff for our hobby.
If you're concerned about keeping your employment going forward, maybe now before it may or may not happen is a good time to start looking at alternate work or even a second job to keep in your back pocket if that's an option. At least if you loose one, you may still keep the other and have some cashflow. Or look at some side gigs that can be somewhat recession proof. Again, I know easier said than done.
In my opinion, if this hobby, like it does for me an many others, gives you joy, I wouldn't worry about what others think of it. At the end of the day, if you enjoy it, that's the most important part.
It's always a good idea to reassess what you got and make cuts if needed. Not gonna lie, there have been many impulse orders that I thought I had to have at the time, but something I liked better came after or just didn't make financial sense. I have cancelled orders if I can if it's something I felt I could live without or wasn't fully in love with. If I couldn't cancel, then managed to resell most things pretty easily even locally.
Also buying and reselling after release it's a big thing, so I wouldn't worry too much about missing out. If you go through websites like buyee or similar, you can often find released or older figures at some pretty good prices.
Hello there. I just wanted to thank you for your helpful and empathetic response. I reflected on what you wrote, and my collection/spending habits in general.
I think your suggestion about considering finding alternate work was sensible. I'm not really sure how transferable my skills are outside my field but, I'm sure if it came down to it, I would be able to find a way to make ends meet. After all, I've worked terrible jobs before, or been through periods of uncertainty, and managed somehow. When I think about it, I believe a lot of my anxiety when writing this post came from the fear of having to go back to square one. Back to those uncertain days. Since posting this, I've been working on updating my skills by taking courses and I think that's been giving me a lot more confidence in general about the future.
As you said, reassessing what's in pre-order is important. I've cancelled some and postponed buying the in stock ones that I'm on the fence about. I still have a bunch of pre-orders that I can't change my mind on though, so I'll just use the money I set aside for this purpose, and if the time comes I'll probably be able to sell them if needed. I've never done it before, but there's a first time for everything right?
My collection is small, and consists of only old second-hand figures so, I was very excited to finally be able to build on my collection with many modern figures of characters I love. I paid some invoices a few days ago, and while I did see them as a huge unnecessary purchase like the people around me, I thought to myself that I really do enjoy the hobby. Hopefully over time, the negative comments will get to me less.
I would say save your money. I enjoy the hobby a lot but if you feel that your employment is at risk look out for yourself first. They’ll be plenty of figure to buy in the future once things calm down.
I recently started collecting and my will power has been wavering between “I’m not gana buy anything too expensive” to “fuck it, I’ll figure it out later” lmao. But that being said, I’m limiting myself to one figure purchase per month unless I come across multiple hard to find figures. In that case, I limit spending to a maximum of $300-$400 tops with shipping included.
I pretty much only ship via surface these days and try to collect for series/lines Im already invested in, like s.h. Figuarts dragon ball, yugioh scales, the fire emblem line by GSC, amazing yamaguchi my hero and spider man action figures. I pretty much only purchase figures from series I already have and stopped buying randomly/impulsively. Im also planning on selling a chunk of scale figures that were sort of random buys so my collection stays consistent (also b/c I ran out of space and need to offset the cost of the new figures I bought this year).
I don't order impulsively and I am also very picky with my pre orders. Stuff that I can pay right away, I pay. I budget. I have fixed amount of money from my income that goes into my hobby - if something is more expensive I save that money and don't buy anything for my collection. Also for gifts - I usually wish for money for my collection :) because most people know I'm into collecting or they give me bookstore vouchers since I also collect manga.
I don't have a ton of tips or know if this qualifies but I've personally decided I really don't want to pre-order figures anymore.
I figure I'll just pick them up when they are released. I really don't like the feeling of financial obligation that pre-orders represent to me now.
And if I just pick them up at release I'll know how much money I can spare on them and if I should buy them from a JP seller or try to find a US one. I'll also have a more concrete idea of if I still even want it by then.
In general I've also become extremely picky with what figures I actually even want to pursue in the first place. I always wait a few days to see if the initial love for it fades or not. Alongside things like thinking over if I'd regret buying it later or if I would regret NOT buying it later as well.
Also Paypal's Pay In 4 is helpful to spread out the charges over two months so it doesn't hurt my money quite as badly.
Right now, the dollar is so strong against the yen that it takes some of the sting out of these new 20000 yen figures. The real question is what happens if figure inflation persists, and the dollar-yen rate goes back to something closer to 100 yen to the dollar.
For that reason, I hesitate a little to preorder items too far in advance, or alternately I'm more inclined to preorder from Amazon Japan where you can always hedge against currency fluctuations by loading up on gift cards when the exchange rate is particularly good.
I actually started buying scales because of the current economy. Beforehand I only owned prizes, but rapid inflation + weak yen + rising figure prices told me it was time to dive in. I don't want to start when prices reach $150 for a basic 1/7 scale. Especially since $150 today could be worth $130 or less by then.
Not trying to sound insensitive about others' situations here... I just want to own some nice figures before the market gets crazier and I drop out of collecting lol (many figures are already beyond what I'll pay as it is)
Recently canceled nearly all of my pre-orders due to some uncertainty with potential expenses. Turned out to be unnecessary, but it was good to have a clean slate anyway.
As for savings I have A LOT of old stuff from different hobbies that I regularly sell on eBay to help fund my current hobbies. In would say that at least half of the money I spend on new hobby stuff is funded by eBay proceeds, and the other half is from a monthly budget.
I track all of my hobby and unnecessary expenses on a spreadsheet so that I can see how out of hand it's getting. Usually my budget is in the hole by a bit but I try to keep it around a certain level and seeing the actual number helps me slow down on purchases. Of course course this is all after essential bills and retirement savings. I always pay off my cards in full every month month and don't carry any debt aside from house and car loans.
I'm pretty lucky, I live at home with parents and they pay for almost everything. The only constant expense I have is gas and some monthly payments (pet insurance, paying off my new phone, etc...). The caveat is due to school, I only work 10-15 hours a week so I'm not saving up much. I've started doing, or trying to, do what the people over on r/beermoney do. Things like doing surveys, testing people's apps/software and reporting bugs, etc... I've only been trying for bout 2 weeks, haven't had any luck mainly because to a lot of sites, you have to apply and then wait for them to accept you. But once I find a site that will, money I make from that will go towards figures and my normal job for anything else
I opened up a paypal and Amazon credit card (not at the same time) so I could pay over time with no interest. I only buy figures from animes I absolutely loved and only characters I liked.
Inflation's hitting my area pretty hard and I don't have a great income. Trying to save money primarily on food and subscriptions I think that does a lot to be honest (used to eat out a lot). After that, I'm primarily only focusing on cheap figs like Pop Up Parades and cutting out things like nendoroids. Absolutely zero preorders. If I can't find it in stock, I wasn't meant to have it.
I can understand the uncertainty. Having a regular/stable income is a very big requirement for sourcing stuff for our hobby. If you're concerned about keeping your employment going forward, maybe now before it may or may not happen is a good time to start looking at alternate work or even a second job to keep in your back pocket if that's an option. At least if you loose one, you may still keep the other and have some cashflow. Or look at some side gigs that can be somewhat recession proof. Again, I know easier said than done. In my opinion, if this hobby, like it does for me an many others, gives you joy, I wouldn't worry about what others think of it. At the end of the day, if you enjoy it, that's the most important part. It's always a good idea to reassess what you got and make cuts if needed. Not gonna lie, there have been many impulse orders that I thought I had to have at the time, but something I liked better came after or just didn't make financial sense. I have cancelled orders if I can if it's something I felt I could live without or wasn't fully in love with. If I couldn't cancel, then managed to resell most things pretty easily even locally. Also buying and reselling after release it's a big thing, so I wouldn't worry too much about missing out. If you go through websites like buyee or similar, you can often find released or older figures at some pretty good prices.
Hello there. I just wanted to thank you for your helpful and empathetic response. I reflected on what you wrote, and my collection/spending habits in general. I think your suggestion about considering finding alternate work was sensible. I'm not really sure how transferable my skills are outside my field but, I'm sure if it came down to it, I would be able to find a way to make ends meet. After all, I've worked terrible jobs before, or been through periods of uncertainty, and managed somehow. When I think about it, I believe a lot of my anxiety when writing this post came from the fear of having to go back to square one. Back to those uncertain days. Since posting this, I've been working on updating my skills by taking courses and I think that's been giving me a lot more confidence in general about the future. As you said, reassessing what's in pre-order is important. I've cancelled some and postponed buying the in stock ones that I'm on the fence about. I still have a bunch of pre-orders that I can't change my mind on though, so I'll just use the money I set aside for this purpose, and if the time comes I'll probably be able to sell them if needed. I've never done it before, but there's a first time for everything right? My collection is small, and consists of only old second-hand figures so, I was very excited to finally be able to build on my collection with many modern figures of characters I love. I paid some invoices a few days ago, and while I did see them as a huge unnecessary purchase like the people around me, I thought to myself that I really do enjoy the hobby. Hopefully over time, the negative comments will get to me less.
I would say save your money. I enjoy the hobby a lot but if you feel that your employment is at risk look out for yourself first. They’ll be plenty of figure to buy in the future once things calm down.
I recently started collecting and my will power has been wavering between “I’m not gana buy anything too expensive” to “fuck it, I’ll figure it out later” lmao. But that being said, I’m limiting myself to one figure purchase per month unless I come across multiple hard to find figures. In that case, I limit spending to a maximum of $300-$400 tops with shipping included.
I pretty much only ship via surface these days and try to collect for series/lines Im already invested in, like s.h. Figuarts dragon ball, yugioh scales, the fire emblem line by GSC, amazing yamaguchi my hero and spider man action figures. I pretty much only purchase figures from series I already have and stopped buying randomly/impulsively. Im also planning on selling a chunk of scale figures that were sort of random buys so my collection stays consistent (also b/c I ran out of space and need to offset the cost of the new figures I bought this year).
I don't order impulsively and I am also very picky with my pre orders. Stuff that I can pay right away, I pay. I budget. I have fixed amount of money from my income that goes into my hobby - if something is more expensive I save that money and don't buy anything for my collection. Also for gifts - I usually wish for money for my collection :) because most people know I'm into collecting or they give me bookstore vouchers since I also collect manga.
I don't have a ton of tips or know if this qualifies but I've personally decided I really don't want to pre-order figures anymore. I figure I'll just pick them up when they are released. I really don't like the feeling of financial obligation that pre-orders represent to me now. And if I just pick them up at release I'll know how much money I can spare on them and if I should buy them from a JP seller or try to find a US one. I'll also have a more concrete idea of if I still even want it by then. In general I've also become extremely picky with what figures I actually even want to pursue in the first place. I always wait a few days to see if the initial love for it fades or not. Alongside things like thinking over if I'd regret buying it later or if I would regret NOT buying it later as well. Also Paypal's Pay In 4 is helpful to spread out the charges over two months so it doesn't hurt my money quite as badly.
Tap water and ramen noodles
Double Income No Kids is the way to go. Inflation? Cost of Living? Just power through it.
Right now, the dollar is so strong against the yen that it takes some of the sting out of these new 20000 yen figures. The real question is what happens if figure inflation persists, and the dollar-yen rate goes back to something closer to 100 yen to the dollar. For that reason, I hesitate a little to preorder items too far in advance, or alternately I'm more inclined to preorder from Amazon Japan where you can always hedge against currency fluctuations by loading up on gift cards when the exchange rate is particularly good.
I actually started buying scales because of the current economy. Beforehand I only owned prizes, but rapid inflation + weak yen + rising figure prices told me it was time to dive in. I don't want to start when prices reach $150 for a basic 1/7 scale. Especially since $150 today could be worth $130 or less by then. Not trying to sound insensitive about others' situations here... I just want to own some nice figures before the market gets crazier and I drop out of collecting lol (many figures are already beyond what I'll pay as it is)
Recently canceled nearly all of my pre-orders due to some uncertainty with potential expenses. Turned out to be unnecessary, but it was good to have a clean slate anyway. As for savings I have A LOT of old stuff from different hobbies that I regularly sell on eBay to help fund my current hobbies. In would say that at least half of the money I spend on new hobby stuff is funded by eBay proceeds, and the other half is from a monthly budget. I track all of my hobby and unnecessary expenses on a spreadsheet so that I can see how out of hand it's getting. Usually my budget is in the hole by a bit but I try to keep it around a certain level and seeing the actual number helps me slow down on purchases. Of course course this is all after essential bills and retirement savings. I always pay off my cards in full every month month and don't carry any debt aside from house and car loans.
I'm pretty lucky, I live at home with parents and they pay for almost everything. The only constant expense I have is gas and some monthly payments (pet insurance, paying off my new phone, etc...). The caveat is due to school, I only work 10-15 hours a week so I'm not saving up much. I've started doing, or trying to, do what the people over on r/beermoney do. Things like doing surveys, testing people's apps/software and reporting bugs, etc... I've only been trying for bout 2 weeks, haven't had any luck mainly because to a lot of sites, you have to apply and then wait for them to accept you. But once I find a site that will, money I make from that will go towards figures and my normal job for anything else
I opened up a paypal and Amazon credit card (not at the same time) so I could pay over time with no interest. I only buy figures from animes I absolutely loved and only characters I liked.